American Express Names Silverman as President-U.S. Consumer Services

American Express Company said Josh Silverman will join American Express in early July as president of the U.S. Consumer Services business, the unit that provides the company’s consumer cards and travel services in the U.S., including the company’s retail travel network.

Silverman was most recently executive in residence at venture capital firm Greylock Ventures, whose portfolio includes Facebook, Pandora, Groupon, LinkedIn, One King’s Lane and Zipcar. Until mid-2010, he served as the CEO of Skype where he prepared the company for its spin-off from eBay, launched a number of products and repositioned the brand around video-based Internet calling. During his tenure, he helped the company add 300 million new customers.

Prior to Skype, Silverman was a senior executive at eBay from 2003 to 2008, where he initially led a number of acquisitions and expanded the company’s classified advertising businesses in Europe, building a leading position there within one year. He then became CEO of eBay’s Shopping.com site, the sixth-largest e-commerce destination in the U.S. and a leader in the U.K., France, Germany and Australia. One of Silverman’s first entrepreneurial ventures was as CEO and co-founder of Evite, a leading social event planning site which helps send more than 16 million invitations to more than 450,000 events each month. He ran that company until it was sold to IAC in 2001.

“In Josh we have found an executive with a track record as both a visionary entrepreneur and an effective leader for amazing growth companies,” said Ed Gilligan, vice chairman of American Express. “This, combined with his consumer experience and digital marketing expertise, makes him an ideal fit for American Express as we think about the current and future opportunities for our company.”

“I am thrilled to be joining American Express at a time of such significant transformation in the payments industry,” said Silverman. “I believe American Express is not just a great brand with an amazing leadership team, it is a company that is extraordinarily well-positioned to take advantage of the substantial changes that are taking place in the consumer and financial services marketplace. Just as important, I’ve been a Cardmember for 20 years and love the company’s products and services.” For more information, visit www.americanexpress.com.

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